Skeletons found at Mannar mass grave had holes in skulls, believed to be from gunshots wounds said the Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph, speaking to Reuters.
"This grave has grown-up people and children, and there are some holes in the skulls believed to be from gunshots,""We don't know who killed these people. This is an area that was held by army for a long time. Wherever there has been LTTE or army camps, we must dig."
The Bishop of Mannar had earlier called for an international investigation into the mass grave to ensure complete transparency.
A total of 36 remains have been found since construction workers found two human skeletons on December 20th when digging in Thirukketheeswaram. The following week, a further four skulls were unearthed, with more over subsequent weeks. Last week, 8 more remains were found, whilst another four skulls were found yesterday.
The TNA MP Sumanthiran told Reuters,
"The loss of lives, according to us, is between 75,000 to 150,000. Where are those remains?""They must be somewhere. If they were put into incinerators and destroyed, we don't know. But we don't think more than 100,000 would have been dealt with like that."
The Sri Lankan military have denied that the area was under their control, and have blamed the LTTE for the grave.
We need your support
Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.
Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view
We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.
For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.
